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The Bone Woods
The Bone Woods are a vast forest of petrified trees along Naruve's southern border with Helfar, stretching for eight hundred miles in a slight arc that fits perfectly along the southern coastline, stopping just short of the artificial land bridges which connect the two bodies. In the past, the Bonewood was a popular tourist attraction, serving as an immense camping grounds filled with all manner of rare insect and plant life. Its remoteness also made it attractive for refugees during the Armageddon Wars, seeing hundreds of thousands of civilians taking up residence under the forest's boughs hoping to ride out the Wars in peace and rebuild when the dust settled. Unfortunately, the same remoteness that made it attractive for refugees also made it attractive for invading forces hoping to utilize it as a hiding place from which to launch attacks on Telo-Haljr and various military posts near Helfar's northern borders. A Goblinoid warship from the Darrinine Confederacy's Twelfth Fleet decided to make it theirs roughly a century after the first waves of refugees began hiding within. All such refugees were mercilessly slaughtered to the last within a matter of hours. Despite this swift and brutal conquest, the Twelfth Fleet's victory was a short-lived one. Not a week after taking control of the forests, the Goblinoid army, their transports, and their equipment all vanished without a trace. The trees withered, the vast canopy of leaves replaced by a vast canopy of tangled branches, and within a matter of months every single tree had petrified. All scouting and rescue parties sent in to ascertain the fate of the Twelfth Fleet or the refugees went missing and were never heard from again. Scrying efforts proved to be in vain, and all forms of aerial or sub-orbital reconaissance failed to penetrate the past the topmost layers of the gnarled trees. It would not be until well after the Wars that anyone discovered the true fate of the woods and its inhabitants. A legion of clerics and paladins of various religious affiliations banded together to try and penetrate the forests, having detected massive surges of Negative Energies that suggested foul magics being employed. Out of nearly four thousand men and women, only five managed to survive the venture, retreating to the nearest outposts of civilization and reporting a seemingly endless army of skeletal undead, hidden amongst the petrified trees and laying ambush after ambush against the living, dragging away the bodies of the slain, no doubt to add the bones to their own ranks. The divine powers granted to them by their faiths did nothing to turn the undead back or give them pause, a pervasive Negative Energy field rendering all but their mightiest spells useless. It is at this point that the forest gained its current name. Another attempt to pacify the forest was made by a group of Necromancers and followers of darker powers, led by the Lich Baroness Telliarad; but this too resulted in ruin, and there was only one survivor of the attempt who died from his injuries shortly after making good his escape. According to this lone priest, despite the massive amounts of Negative Energy, their powers were as useless as their divine counterparts- some other, unknown force held a greater sway over the undead and directed them to wipe out the living. Even undead creatures summoned by the Necromancers and clergy were swiftly turned upon their summoners, slaughtering them without hesitation. But the group was at a loss to explain precisely who or what power or powers could be there to have such powerful control over the Dead. After this, elements of the Enforcer's Guild from Paradise City and military personnel from the armies of the Jehmmarahj Emirate were stationed on either side of the woods to ensure that nothing comes out, though this seems unnecessary as the restless dead have never made any attempt to leave or launch an invasion. As far as anyone can tell, the dead are content to remain within the Bonewood. Despite these posted personnel and constant warnings, every few years an archeological team is assembled and launched in the hopes of investigating the mysteries surrounding the Bonewood. Why can't the undead be turned or controlled? What force or forces drive them? Why did the forest wither and die so swiftly? Why do they remain within the confines of woods? These and other questions have and will likely remain unanswered for many generations yet, though most officials are willing to accept the explanation given by the Centauri and consider the matter closed. The Centauri claim that the Bonewood is the result of actions taken by Jhaia. They say that the forest grew over ancient, sacred grounds, important to Jhaia for reasons unknowable, and that the defilement of such holy grounds by the rampaging Goblinoids provoked a reaction from the planet itself. Xizuthie avoid the area as though it carried a plague- the few that have gone near it immediately flee, speaking of horrible whispers that sound like a cacophonous litany of hate that hurts just to hear. Those knowledgeable about the forest's corruption suggest that the curse upon the Bonewood is not unlike a body's immune system defending against foreign invaders, or growing a thick scar over a deep cut. Such individuals have suggested that, in time, when this metaphysical wound has finally healed- which may take hundreds or even thousands of years- the forest will slowly begin to grow anew, and the bones of the dead will finally be laid to rest. Until such time, the undead act in a vein similar to white blood cells, violently attacking any foreign material that might risk further contamination. Why this spot in particular is so sacred to Jhaia is not fully understood; the Worldsoul has been fairly silent on the subject, and even its more talkative Aspects don't say much that makes any sense. The best guess put forth based on the cryptic clues provided by the Aspects is that the place where the Bonewoods now stand may have been one of the first spots where living things appeared on the planet's surface. Back to Naruve Back to Main Page